


A Novel Idea

by SatiricalDraperies



Series: Tolkien Gen Week 2020 [2]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Cultural Differences, Female Friendship, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:48:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25120408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SatiricalDraperies/pseuds/SatiricalDraperies
Summary: Sigrid and Tauriel discuss all the changes to Laketown and the changes yet to come.
Relationships: Kili/Tauriel (referenced), Sigrid & Tauriel (Hobbit Movies)
Series: Tolkien Gen Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1819642
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10
Collections: Tolkien Gen Week 2020





	A Novel Idea

**Author's Note:**

> Tolkien Gen Week 2020  
> day 2: platonic

The day is won and the battle is over. Still, nothing’s gone back to normal. Tauriel hates and loves the changes in equal measure. She has lost her unshakeable faith in Elves and gained a new trust in Men, lost a lover and gained a friend.

“I’m sorry,” Sigrid says. “I know you loved him.”

“I still do,” Tauriel responds, finally lifting her head to meet Sigrid’s gaze. “I don’t think a love like that ever really leaves you.”

“Aye,” Sigrid agrees.

They sit together on the edge of the dock for a while. Tauriel’s bare feet are completely submerged in the lake, while Sigrid hasn’t even taken her shoes off. A fish swims by, blissfully ignorant of the fishermen waiting for it downstream. Tilda and her friends run past, playing at dragon-slayer. Two women across the canal sit in much the same position as Tauriel and Sigrid, knitting and discussing all of the changes to Laketown since the battle.

“What do you think of the new laws?” Sigrid asks.

Tauriel doesn’t know what to say. The people of Laketown have been exceedingly polite to her (they saw her fighting off Orcs to protect them—saving their lives does tend to make people want to play nice) but she’s still very much an outsider. No one’s ever asked for her opinion on the affairs of Men. In all honest, it hasn’t occurred to her, either, that she _could_ have an opinion on them. For all of her ideals, she hasn’t had much real interaction with Men. 

“I don’t know,” she says. “I only know how we run business at Mirkwood. I think your father will make a good king.”

“Fair enough,” Sigrid nods. “But he’s not going to be king. We’re trying _democracy_. It’s a novel idea.”

“Hmm,” Tauriel says.

“Hmm indeed.”

Tilda and her merry band come back. They’ve switched from dragon-slayer to Elves-And-Orcs, a game that Tauriel still can’t figure out. The Elves can run and jump but the Orcs are stuck crawling on the ground, unless they’re hit by a spear of a twig, when they can take down any Elves around them… It doesn’t make sense as a battle strategy or as a game, but at least they’re having fun.

“I want to be Tauriel!”

“No fair! You got to be her last time.”

“You can be Legolas!”

“ _I’m_ Legolas! You can be the Elvenking.”

“But he’s so _boring_! He just sits on his elk all the time.”

“At least you aren’t stuck being the elk!”

They keep running past and Tauriel turns to Sigrid in astonishment.

“They admire you,” Sigrid says. “You were down here fighting with us. Hardly anyone had even seen an Elf, and then here you were, side by side with us. A lot of the younger ones were scared when all the Elves arrived. Your presence made them a lot less worried.”

Tauriel had never thought about it that way. She supposes it makes sense, but it’s unsettling to know that _she_ was the one to introduce them to all of Elvenkind. 

“Hmm,” she says again. “They really don’t like the king, huh?”

Sigrid looks worried for a moment but laughs when she sees the playful look on Tauriel’s face.

“It’s alright,” Tauriel says. “He can be a bit… pompous.”

“That’s one word for it,” Sigrid says. “Elves just seem so distant. Present company excluded, of course.”

“We’re not all that way,” Tauriel says, turning an idea over in her mind. “Sure, some are, but I think Elves and Men have more in common than we all think. Dwarves and Hobbits, too. We’re all just trying to make the world better for the people we love.”

“What are you thinking of?” Sigrid asks. “You sound like there’s an idea tripping on your tongue.”

“What?” Tauriel says. Then: “oh! That’s exactly it!”

Sigrid waits patiently for her to collect her thoughts.

“We may be able to speak each other’s languages, but that doesn’t mean we understand each other perfectly. You and I are friends, so we’re usually able to figure it out but that doesn’t work for all Elves and Men. Our people have been separate for so long that we almost need a cultural translator, of sorts.”

“Someone to bring us together again,” Sigrid says. “It’s brilliant.”

“It would be you, of course,” Tauriel says. “If you want to. You’re the only Man I know who can follow my half-finished thoughts and have enough patience to deal with Thranduil, if that’s even possible.”

“And here I was about to say that you were the only option,” Sigrid laughs. “You’ve seen how the people here care about you.”

“Both of us, then,” Tauriel decides. “One to represent the Men and one to represent the Elves.”

“And may the friendship between our people be as strong as the friendship between us!”


End file.
